Batavia Chamber holds first Legislative Forum with Chris Aiston

Batavia’s first
Legislative Forum was held June 13 at the City Council Chambers. Featured
speaker Chris Aiston talked about future developments and upcoming plans in
Batavia.

Holly Deitchman,
Executive Director of the Batavia Chamber of Commerce, opened the meeting with
a call to order and introductions. Those in attendance included business owners and employees from
BEI, Batavia Main Street, BATV and Dollars and Sense Bookkeeping. State Representative
Mike Fortner was also in attendance as well as Kane County Board Reps Susan
Starrett and John Martin.

Following introductions, Deb Reiter from CMIT Solutions gave a welcome
speech and introduced Mayor Jeff Schielke. Mayor Schielke spoke about Batavia’s
good financial standing and gave an overview of the city’s upcoming development
and redevelopment projects.

Economic Development Consultant Christ Aiston then took the floor,
opening his presentation by speaking about plans to retain existing Batavia
businesses as well as encourage business friendly policies and practices. Chris
then spoke about Batavia Tax Increment Financing Districts (TIFS) and various
improvement projects around Batavia.

In addition to financial updates, Chris discussed local business marketing efforts
and consumer-targeted marking such as the Dining Cooperative Ad Campaign and the
Batavia Restaurant Madness Week Campaign. Chris said both of these efforts have
been successful.

After a short Q&A with Aiston, the county and state
representatives provided short updates to close out the meeting.